Unexpected Rivals
by OnlyTheInevitable
Summary: Scully gets a new dog and Mulder doesn't appreciate having to share her attention. Tumblr Prompt. MSR. Fluff.


**This was a Tumblr Prompt by sadveggietot. I hope it turned out okay, I'm still new to experimenting with this vingette combo style and I also never interact with dogs.**

**_msr / pre-relationship / fluff / au_**

* * *

"His name's Stubb," she explained with a beaming smile as he was being mauled by what had to have been a descendent of Sasquatch. Or, at least, he thinks she's smiling - he lost sight of her when the mutt licked his eyes, seemingly wanting to explore Mulder but not finding anything that intrested him.

"And, uh, why is Stubb here?" he asked, trying to ease the creature back on all fours. Even when it was, he was still at Mulder's upper thigh, he must've been at least at Scully's waist.

"I adopted him," she explained, laughing as Stubb ran back to her and nuzzled against her side, nearly toppling her over. He was right, seeing them side to side, he had no doubts that dog weighted more and, was probably two times bigger than, Scully. She could probably put a saddle on the thing and save on gas.

"...he uh...seems a lot different than Queequeg," he chuckled, watching Scully get knocked off her feel a few times from the dog's enthusiasm. _Hell, Queequeg was probably as big as this dog's last bowel movement._

_"_He's a mastive, apparently he'd been at the shelter for almost a year because no one wanted him since he's so big," she replied, petting the dog fondly behind his ears. _Well that explained it - of course Scully would choose the mutt no one else wanted. That was just so her._

_"_I didn't know you wanted a dog," he replied slowly. This was out of left field. It was selfish, this was just a _dog _after all, but the thought of someone-_thing_ else taking her attention away from him, especially when they'd been so close as of late, made the green eyed monster come out a little in him.

The dog knew that too. Mulder could just see it in his face as Stubb jumped up and licked the cheek Mulder'd placed a kiss on the other night - as if to say _she's mine now_ in dog terms.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably as her smile faltered, "I just-I thought it'd be nice to have someone here with me."

_Oh._

The realization felt like a bucket of cold water to his face. He could still smell the new plaster they had to cover the bullet hole in the ceiling with, he could still see the fresh bruises left in Pfaster's wake, he'd seen the way she'd jumped in the office when he moved too fast. _She wanted someone here as a form of protection. She was alone when Pfaster attacked her and no one had come. She'd had to save herself. Again._

He was glad she'd gotten someone to come home to at night.

He just wished it was him.

* * *

They looked ridiculous, absolutely 100% ridiculous, and he couldn't keep the smile off his face.

His attention was drawn to them immediately, even from the other side of the park. A petite woman running while a massive dog simply trotted along to keep up with her was jarring to the eye as much as it was funny - she was covered in a sheen of sweat while the tog looked like he was exuding no effort.

As his eyes adjusted, he realized that the petite woman was noneother than Dana Scully, taking her new dog out on a run.

Picking up his own pace, he started cutting across the grass so he could get on the same trail as her. _Had he ever seen Scully in excersize gear? _From his vantage point a few yards behind her, her little ponytail jumped in place with every foot fall, and the tight material of her outfit complimented her every curve. _God, she looked hot._

Wanting to surprise her, he ran a little faster so he would end up running next to her. She hadn't noticed him yet by the time he was a foot away, but Stubb sure as hell did. The dog locked eyes with him and let out a low menacing growl, placing his own body between him and Scully. Mulder shot the dog an equally annoyed glace and tried to move to the other side, only to have him follow.

This game of back and forth went on for a few more feet until Scully noticed someone behind her and stopped slowly, looking over her shoulder to see who it was. "Oh, hey, Mulder!" she exclamied while panting, stopping with the dog at her feet.

"Hey, Scully," he panted, jumping when the dog barked at him.

"No! Stubbs, that's Mulder. Be nice to him," Scully chastized in a tone he was slightly offended to realize had been used on him before.

"I don't think he likes me, Scully," Mulder informed cautiously.

"What makes you think that?" she asked, petting the dog while looking at him and inadvertenly missing the way the dog bared it's teeth to him.

"He refused to let me get close to you. Plus, just look at him," he exclaimed. But as soon as Scully turned, the dog stuck out his tongue and lovingly leaned into her touch. _Funny, he thought this type of thing only happened when he was trying to get her to look at a UFO._

_"_Mulder, don't be silly," she laughed.

The dog nuzzled into her side and Mulder swore the thing was making fun of him.

* * *

Last he'd remembered, movie nights were a two person thing.

In face, last week pre-Stubbs (that's how he referred to his life now - was it pre or post dog) he'd finally gotten the balls to sit close enough on the couch to Scully that their legs touched. The week before that he'd just accidentally brushed her knee. It might not seem like much, but when it's taken several years just to get her to want to hand out, this type of development was a rapid progression.

This week he'd been hoping he might down enough Shiner to get the nerve to wrap an arm around her - apparently the juvenile moves of a middle schooler were now his goals. But instead, he was smashed into the side of the couch while the dog sat in the middle of them.

The dog in question currently had his head in Scully's lap and Mulder couldn't even hold it in this time - he was jealous of a dog. As he sat their and twiddled his thumbs, Stubb got the full brunt of Scully's affection. _Asshole._

Wanting to have atleast had _some_ sort of contact with Scully tonight, he rest his arm along the back of the couch so that his fingers just barely grazed the nape of her neck. Being daring, he let his middle finger peep out and gently touch the skin underneath her baby hairs. Just as he felt a smattering of goosebumps erupt under his touch, the dog was up with a bark.

"What's wrong, Stubb?" Scully asked leaning forward, not noticing the way Mulder's jaw clenched out of irritation.

"He doesn't like it when I touch you. Or look at you. Or exist near you," Mulder explained, setting his hand back in his lap.

"Not true," Scully laughed.

Deciding to be bold, he reached over the dog to place his palm on her thigh. As soon as hand touched leg - the dog was headbutting him away. "Huh," she uttered with uncertainty, watching as the dog jumped off the couch to stand in front of them - watching with intensity.

Emphasizing his point, he put his hand out in front of him and slowly moved it towards Scully, both of them watching the dog's expression change from curiosity to fierce protection with every millimeter he got closer. By the time he was close enough to feel her body heat, Stubb barked and put his paws on the couch in warning.

"That can't be right," she mused.

* * *

"Stubb," he deadpanned.

"No, not like that, Mulder. He can _hear_ you don't like him," Scully admonished.

"_I _don't mind him, it's_ him_ who doesn't like me," Mulder reminded.

She rolled her eyes and tried to hide the smile tugging at her lips. "Try again."

"Stubb," Mulder called out with fake enthusiasm, patting his legs. But the dog didn't move. He stayed latched at Scully's side like he wanted to build a home there. _Not that Mulder blamed him._

Scully frowned and looked from the dog to him specutively. "Try again."

Putting on a fake smile, he patted his knees and snapped his fingers, "Stubb, come 'ere." The dog growled in response and Scully gasped. "See! Did you see that!" Mulder exclimed, pointing at the dog like a tattling child.

"Bad Stubb!" Scully reprimanded. The dog whined at her dissaproval and Mulder couldn't help but empathize with the way he bowed his head and his ears fell.

Scully walked over to him and, before he could even process, she wrapped her arms around his torso and nuzzled her head against his side. "Stubb, we like Mulder, look," she called out, getting the dog's attention.

Stubb perked up and looked at the pair, immediately standing up in confused alert that she was so close to the enemy. He tentatively put one paw in front of the other and watched the pair, cocking his head. "I think it's working," she whispered.

"What is?" Mulder asked, not trusting the mutt.

"Stubb," she called out sweetly. "Look," she demanded before raising herself on her toes and pressing a noisy, firm kiss to Mulder's cheek, bending back down afterwards to nuzzle against him once more. _Oh, this was her tactic. Get him to love by showing her own. He had to say, it was his favorite theory of hers yet._

Deciding to participate, just to back her up and all, he raised his hands and hugged her back, pressing their bodies together as they watched the dog. Well, realistically Mulder was barely paying attention to anything other than feeling Scully so intimately pressed to him, while being so affectionate nonetheless.

"Try petting his head," Scully instructed him when the dog got close enough to touch. Reluctantly letting go of her, he bent down and touched Stubb's head surprised when the dog let him.

"It's working!" she exclaimed, squeezing him for emphasis.

"Uh, kinda," Mulder countered. The dog was letting him touch him, but he was in no way encouraging it. It was like he was wearing a party hat to an event he never wanted to attend, and Mulder's hand was the hat.

Part of him couldn't believe she wasn't seeing that this dog did not trust him, while the other part was touched that she seemed so averse to the possibility that something wouldn't like him.

* * *

Mulder made it his life mission to protect Scully.

Stubb made it his life mission to protect Scully.

Of course this would be what made them see eye to eye.

She'd been distracted, padding around her apartment after they'd finished some take out when she slipped on some water and started falling to the floor - _hard. _They both noticed at the same time, but Mulder was closer (and a human), so he was able to catch her just in time before she fell. Instead of falling ass-first onto the hardwood, she fell into Mulder who fell back and took the brunt of the fall, the dog running around them while looking for frantic assurance she was okay.

"You alright?" he laughed, ignoring the soreness in his left cheek.

"I'm so sorry," she laughed, pivoting in between his legs to look at him.

"You're fine," he smiled back, watching Stubb lick her face in comfort.

Then, much to his surprise, Stubb turned and licked him too, nuzzling into him while his pink tongue panted in happiness.

Scully's face lit up and she set one hand on Mulder's leg while the other reached up to pet the dog. "He's licking you!" she exclaimed, as if the five o'clock shadow made of dog saliva wasn't clueing him in to that fact.

"Thank you, Stubb," he joked, trying to dislodge the dog from his face which only resulted in him laying across Mulder's lap.

"I think he's saying thank you," she admitted, sending him a beaming smile.

He'd let the dog lick him forever if it meant he could get a smile like that.


End file.
